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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.
- Preface

1828 Noah Webster Dictionary
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1828.mshaffer.com › Word [preterit]

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preterit

PRE'TERIT, a. [L. proeteritus, proetereo; proeter, beyond, and eo, to go.] Past; applied to the tense in grammar which expresses an action or being perfectly past or finished, often that which is just past or completed, but without a specification of time. It is called also the perfect tense; as, scripsi, I have written. We say, "I have written a letter to my correspondent;" in which sentence, the time is supposed to be not distant and not specified. But when the time is mentioned,we use the imperfect tense so called; as, "I wrote to my correspondent yesterday." In this use of the preterit or perfect tense, the English differs from the French, in which j'ai ecrit heir, is correct; but I have written yesterday, would be very bad English.



Evolution (or devolution) of this word [preterit]

1828 Webster1844 Webster1913 Webster

PRE'TERIT, a. [L. proeteritus, proetereo; proeter, beyond, and eo, to go.] Past; applied to the tense in grammar which expresses an action or being perfectly past or finished, often that which is just past or completed, but without a specification of time. It is called also the perfect tense; as, scripsi, I have written. We say, "I have written a letter to my correspondent;" in which sentence, the time is supposed to be not distant and not specified. But when the time is mentioned,we use the imperfect tense so called; as, "I wrote to my correspondent yesterday." In this use of the preterit or perfect tense, the English differs from the French, in which j'ai ecrit heir, is correct; but I have written yesterday, would be very bad English.


PRE'TER-IT, a. [L. præteritus, prætereo; præter, beyond and eo, to go.]

Past; applied to the tense in grammar which expresses an action or being perfectly past or finished, often that which is just past or completed, but without a specification of time. It is called also the perfect tense; as, scripsi, I have written. We say “I have written a letter to my correspondent;” in which sentence, the time is supposed to be not distant and not specified. But when the time is mentioned, we use the imperfect tense so called; as, “I wrote to my correspondent yesterday.” In this use of the preterit or perfect tense, the English differs from the French, in which j'ai écrit hier, is correct; but I have written yesterday, would be very bad English.


Pret"er*it
  1. Past; -- applied to a tense which expresses an action or state as past.
  2. The preterit; also, a word in the preterit tense.
  3. Belonging wholly to the past; passed by.

    [R.]

    Things and persons as thoroughly preterite as Romulus or Numa. Lowell.

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Preterit

PRE'TERIT, adjective [Latin proeteritus, proetereo; proeter, beyond, and eo, to go.] Past; applied to the tense in grammar which expresses an action or being perfectly past or finished, often that which is just past or completed, but without a specification of time. It is called also the perfect tense; as, scripsi, I have written. We say, 'I have written a letter to my correspondent; ' in which sentence, the time is supposed to be not distant and not specified. But when the time is mentioned, we use the imperfect tense so called; as, 'I wrote to my correspondent yesterday.' In this use of the preterit or perfect tense, the English differs from the French, in which j'ai ecrit heir, is correct; but I have written yesterday, would be very bad English.

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Word of the Day

importance

IMPORT'ANCE, n.

1. Weight; consequence; a bearing on some interest; that quality of any thing by which it may affect a measure, interest or result. The education of youth is of great importance to a free government. A religious education is of infinite importance to every human being.

2. Weight or consequence in the scale of being.

Thy own importance know.

Nor bound thy narrow views to things below.

3. Weight or consequence in self-estimation.

He believes himself a man of importance.

4. Thing implied; matter; subject; importunity. [In these senses, obsolete.]

Random Word

vein

VEIN, n. [L. vena, from the root of venio, to come, to pass. The sense is a passage, a conduit.]

1. A vessel in animal bodies, which receives the blood from the extreme arteries, and returns it to the heart. The veins may be arranged in three divisions. 1. Those that commence from the capillaries all over the body, and return the blood to the heart. 2. The pulmonary veins. 3. The veins connected with the vena portarum, in which the blood that has circulated through the organs of digestion, is conveyed to the liver.

2. In plants, a tube or an assemblage of tubes, through which the sap is transmitted along the leaves. The term is more properly applied to the finer and more complex ramifications, which interbranch with each other like net-work; the larger and more direct assemblages of vessels being called ribs and nerves. Veins are also found in the calyx and corol of flowers.

The vessels which branch or variously divide over the surface of leaves are called veins.

3. In geology, a fissure in rocks or strata, filled with a particular substance. Thus metallic veins intersect rocks or strata of other substances. Metalliferous veins have been traced in the earth for miles; some in South America are said to have been traced eighty miles. Many species of stones, as granite, porphyry, &c. are often found in veins.

4. A streak or wave of different color, appearing in wood, marble, and other stones; variegation.

5. A cavity or fissure in the earth or in other substance.

6. Tendency or turn of mind; a particular disposition or cast of genius; as a rich vein of wit or humor; a satirical vein

Invoke the muses, and improve my vein.

7. Current.

He can open a vein of true and noble thinking.

8. Humor; particular temper.

9. Strain; quality; as my usual vein.

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No other dictionary compares with the Webster's 1828 dictionary. The English language has changed again and again and in many instances has become corrupt. The American Dictionary of the English Language is based upon God's written word, for Noah Webster used the Bible as the foundation for his definitions. This standard reference tool will greatly assist students of all ages in their studies. From American History to literature, from science to the Word of God, this dictionary is a necessity. For homeschoolers as well as avid Bible students it is easy, fast, and sophisticated.


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